MEI-ANN CHEN AND THE PHOENIX SYMPHONY
When: March 7-9. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday. Where: Symphony Hall, 75 N. Second St., Phoenix. Admission: $18-$79. Details: 602-495-1999, phoenix symphony.org. country, I taught about 40 beginners on piano and violin. ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.’ I wasn’t conducting. I wasn’t performing. I had no prospects.”
Finally given the opportunity to conduct, she says, “I made a promise to myself that I would conduct like it was the last time I could make music. So that’s what I try to do every time I’m on the podium.”
Chen’s first appearance with the Phoenix Symphony was during the 2010-11 season.
“Chemistry is something you can’t really teach or create,” she says. “It’s either there or it isn’t. And I just remember on my first visit in Phoenix, this incredible feeling that the orchestra was willing to go wherever I tried to push them. It just clicked. And when that happens, I can tell you, I’m the happiest person on Earth.”
This week’s program includes Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 and An-Lun Huang’s “Saibei Dance,” a piece written during China’s Cultural Revolution as a celebration of the harvest season.
Chen has a special connection to “Saibei Dance,” which she has conducted many times.
“This is a piece that I have been championing since the Alabama Symphony introduced me to it,” she says. “It was written at the end of the Cultural Revolution, a 10-year period in China during which a lot of composers were in exile, including Mr. Huang. This was written in 1975, a year before the Cultural Revolution ended.
“‘Saibei’ means the area north of the Great Wall in China. So he was living amongst the farmers, not able to practice his art, not able to compose, and yet he was able to capture the annual harvest, which was probably the most joyful event of that dark period — because they’re celebrating that they have food, at least. And he really depicted the celebratory feel of such an occasion during such a difficult time in his own life and also for